Alexy II presents his vision of the “past, present and future” of the European Continent

Patriarch Aleksy II of Moscow and All Russia, who is on his first official visit to France since becoming the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. He put a special emphasis on moral standards as the main instrument for maintaining peace and assuring future development.

Patriarch Aleksy II of Moscow and All Russia, whois on his first official visit to France since becoming the Head of theRussian Orthodox Church, has addressed the Parliamentary Assembly ofthe Council of Europe in Strasbourg. He put a special emphasis on moralstandards as the main instrument for maintaining peace and assuringfuture development.

The Address of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia to the PACE

Dear Mr. President,

Dear Members of the Parliamentary Assembly,

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this high assembly as I havebeen invited by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of theCouncil of Europe René van der Linden on behalf of you all. I am gladto communicate our vision of the past, present and future of our commonhome, the European Continent, to the members of parliaments of theCouncil of Europe constituent countries.

Recently, the Council of Europe has made some new, unprecedented stepstowards bridging with religious communities. In our sight it is thelong-awaited response to many calls of religious leaders.

Understanding of human person could become an important theme for sucha dialogue since it is around anthropology that many problems andsometimes even conflicts arise between faith traditions and secularhumanism.

The European Continent has been influenced by many cultures that arepresent here until now. Yet it was within Christian system that thevision of human person’s high dignity and of the conditions necessaryfor its realization were shaped. The Christian faith taught all nationsthat human beings are created in the image and likeness of God.Christianity has always stressed that if human being lives a moral livehe or she may become God’s friend (cf. John 15.15) and achieve freedom(cf. John 8.32).

Every honest specialist in European history may witness that theChristian attitude to human person destroyed and condemned slavery,formed means of fair judgment, created high social and politicalstandards of life, shaped ethical relations between persons, anddeveloped science and culture. The very conception of human rights,Europe’s main political idea, has developed not without some influenceof Christian teaching of dignity, freedom, and moral character of humanbeing. From the very beginning human rights developed in the context ofChristian morality forming with it a kind of tandem.

Yet today there occurs a break between human rights and morality, andthis break threatens the European civilization. We can see it in a newgeneration of rights that contradict morality, and in how human rightsare used to justify immoral behavior. In this connection, I may notethat morality, with which any human right advocacy has to count, ismentioned in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rightsand Fundamental Freedoms. I am convinced that the makers of theEuropean Convention on Human Rights included therein morality not assomething ambiguous but rather as an integral element of the wholehuman rights system.

If we ignore moral norms, we ultimately ignore freedom too. Morality isfreedom in action. It is a freedom brought into reality as a result ofresponsible choice, in which human person restricts his or her self forthe good of that very person and broader society. Moral principlessecure societal vitality and growth, as well as unity of society, whichis one of primary objectives of the European Convention on HumanRights. And whenever moral norms are trespassed and declared to berelative, it may undermine the whole worldview of the Europeans. Theymay draw nigh to a disastrous moment when European nations risk losingtheir spiritual and cultural identity and ultimately their own place inhistory.

However I believe that no state power may interfere into human being’spersonal life. After all, being moral or immoral is a matter of freepersonal choice. But in public sphere, both state and society shouldencourage and support moral principles acceptable for the majority ofcitizens. Therefore they should use mass media, social institutions,and education system to pursue the moral ideals that are linked withspiritual and cultural tradition of the European nations.

I believe that it is very important to preserve the moral dimensionthat inspires and ennobles the European people’s lives in order tosafeguard the European cultural identity, especially in the context ofits contacts with other cultural and civilizational standards. Atleast, no state power should be used to propagate or encourage thingsthat may weaken or destroy the society’s moral pillars.

Many societal problems have no solution unless human person, statepower, and nation as a whole are subject to moral evaluation. Forexample, in Russia and many other European countries – both Eastern andWestern – the gap between the rich and the poor is growing while anyidea of social justice is blurring. In Russia, our church has manytimes called to discuss the miserable condition of millions of honestworkers whose very few compatriots are extremely rich and glaringlyextravagant. We are glad to see this initiative supported by manysocietal and political forces today. We can see that preconditions forproper economical and political decisions are already there.

However, even the most efficient legal and social system is unable tocompletely restrict some people’s lust to gain wealth at expense ofmany others. Charity never arises whenever people do not feelresponsible for their fellow citizens. Charity is a result ofupbringing in the spirit of traditional moral principles, includingChristian ones.

Traditional moral principles are also a basis for integration within amulticultural society, which today’s Europe actually is. It was welldemonstrated, for example, by the World Religious Summit held in Moscowin June last year. The forum participants were Christian, Muslim,Jewish, Buddhist, Shinto, and Hindu. They came from forty-ninecountries to express their common concern for the humanity’s moraldegradation.

It was upon this basis of traditional morality and respect for eachother’s social models and lifestyle that various religious traditionscoexisted in Russia, where no wars of religion were ever known. Nowtoo, our church keeps strengthening peace between the faiths throughdeveloping an efficient dialogue and cooperation with other traditionalreligious communities in Russian and other CIS countries.

As we all know, Europe and the whole world are today threatened withthe extremists and terrorists many of whom wear religious disguises.These destructive forces grow on the soil of religious ignorance andmoral scarcity. Therefore I strongly believe that younger generationsshould have access, if they will, to in-depth study their religioustradition in school. They also need basic knowledge of other faithssince it lays foundation for living together peacefully.

Technological progress calls us to look at human rights anew. Thebelievers have their say in the issues of bioethics, electronic IDs,and other technologies that concern Christians. Human being shouldremain what he or she is without becoming a commodity or a fullycontrolled element in an electronic network or a subject for laboratoryexperiments or a cyborg. That is why science and technology cannot beestranged from the moral evaluation of their goals and fruits.

The Russian Orthodox Church if fully aware that there are a range ofreligious world outlooks in Europe and world-widely. We are open fordialogue with them as well as with those who adhere to secularism. Yetwe are convinced that no worldview, including secular one, must notclaim monopoly in Europe or elsewhere. Therefore we think that castingreligion out from public sphere is unacceptable. It is time toacknowledge that religious motivation has its right to exist everywhereincluding public sphere.

In order to avoid clashes between different worldviews we need aserious dialogue between the cultures, in which representatives of bothtraditional religions and the secular tradition should be most activelyinvolved. I believe that the Council of Europe, which has potential andexperience as a place of dialogue about European values, may become agood forum for such a dialogue.

The Patriarch thanked theparliamentarians for the opportunity to communicate the RussianOrthodox Church’s “vision of the past, present and future of theEuropean Continent”.

He linked the conflicts that arise today with different views “of whata human being is” and with “the gap between religious traditions andsecular humanism”.

In this respect, he pointed to the breach between the existing concepts of human rights and morality:

“This is something that can be seenin the emergence of a new generation of rights that contradictmorality, and philosophies that use human rights to justify immoralbehaviour. In this connection I would like to remind you that theEuropean Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and FundamentalFreedoms includes a reference to morality that has to be taken intoaccount by anyone involved in human rights advocacy,” said Aleksy II.

The patriarch also noted the importance of inter-religious dialogue, which is essential in reaching and maintaining peace.

“Europe and the whole world arethreatened by extremists and terrorists. These destructive forces growon the soil of religious ignorance and lack of morality,” he said.

He also spoke on the problem of the status of Serbia’s breakaway republic of Kosovo.

“We believe that the way to resolvethe issue around Kosovo involves establishing favorable conditions fordialogue. And we need this, involving the mediation of theinternational community. But that mediation has to unbiased andconstructive. That is the approach that will enhance the authority ofinternational mediation, because any kind of unilateral resolution, that doesn’t take into account the opinions of the Serbian people willonly result in injustice and suffering of people that will last formany years,” Alexey II said.

Another important issue Aleksy II touched upon is the relationship between science and morality:

“A human being should remain a humanbeing, not a commodity, not a controlled element within an electronicnetwork, not a subject for laboratory experimentation, not asemi-artificial entity. That’s why science and technology cannot beestranged from moral evaluation”.

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, speaking at the Council ofEurope on Tuesday, reiterated the position of his Church that gay andlesbian parades amount to “propaganda and advertisement of sin.”

“When persistent attempts were made to hold a homosexual parade inMoscow, we believed that that meant propaganda and advertisement ofsin,” Alexy told a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Councilof Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France.

Attempts are made to justify homosexuality by calling it a disease, thepatriarch said. Yet kleptomania can also be considered a disease, heargued. “Why then no one advertises kleptomania while homosexualitygets advertised via gay parades?” he said.

“It is advertisement that is being forced on people who are a very long way from it,” Alexy said.

The patriarch also said the Church commiserated with all sinners,including homosexuals, “sinners whom we love while we hate their sin.”

“But at the same time, we Orthodox Christians cannot depart from whatis taught by the Bible and by the apostolic tradition of the Church,”Alexy said.

“Somebody may think otherwise, and nobody must be discredited on the basis of the character of their private lives,” he said.

“In the same way, nobody must try to force me or my brothers andsisters in faith to be silent and [to prevent us from] using the wordsin for something that is called sin in God’s Word,” the patriarch said.

It is the right of religious believers to question the acceptability oflegal and political support for a feature of society, he said.

Summing up, the Patriarch reiterated the readiness of the RussianOrthodox Church for dialogue, adding that the Council of Europe couldbe a powerful forum for discussing the most sensitive issues.

Source: Interfax-religion, Russia Today

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